A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company exploded during a ground test known as a hotfire at a Florida launch pad on Thursday night.
The New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, experienced an “anomaly” at approximately 9 p.m. E.T. at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for,” read an update from Blue Origin.
Bezos said it had been a “very rough day” and that while it’s “too early” to know the root cause, the team is “already working to find it.”
“We’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” he vowed.
Footage of the incident shows the rocket erupting into a massive fireball, sending towering flames and thick smoke into the night sky.
The Blue Origin rocket had been preparing for its fourth launch to carry 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit, amid efforts to build a broadband constellation to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink network.
The explosion marks a significant setback for Blue Origin, which recently secured contracts with NASA to develop lunar landers.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
Local space officials warned that debris from the explosion could “wash ashore along publicly accessible areas over the coming days or week” and urged residents to contact emergency services if they encounter any wreckage.
“Launch vehicle debris is potentially hazardous, direct contact poses a risk to personal health and welfare,” said Space Launch Delta 45.
Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is visible from nearby beaches, and social media quickly filled with images of the fireball. Some locals reported feeling their homes shake following the blast.
Republican Rep. Mike Haridopolos of Florida, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, said he had spoken with Isaacman after the incident.
“I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly. Praying for Florida’s Space Coast and everyone involved,” he said.
Musk, whose own SpaceX rocket exploded during testing in Texas last year, was among those who responded publicly.
“Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard,” he said shortly after the incident.
Musk and Bezos remain direct competitors in the race to return astronauts to the moon in the face of China’s expressed goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2030. Both companies are developing lunar landers for NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA’s Artemis III mission, set to unfold next year, will, in low Earth orbit, “test integrated operations between the Orion spacecraft and one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin respectively.”
In light of the launch pad explosion on Thursday, NASA Administrator Isaacman said they “will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available.”
